I grabbed both. “Thank you for dinner, Mr.Michaels.”
Aidan studied the place where Liam’s fingers connected with my skin. “I see you treat your women the way your fatherdid.”
Aidan’s comparison made Liam free my arm. Staring at the skin he’d gripped—the skin I was now rubbing—he muttered, “Let’s go.Please.” It sounded painful for him to add that lastword.
Without hesitation, I headed toward theexit.
The second we were outside, he said, “I can’t believe you went out on a date with that…thatrat.”
I stopped rubbing my arm and fished my phone out of mybag.
“What are youdoing?”
“Calling acab.”
He gestured to his mammoth-wheeled car. “I got acar.”
“I make it a point not to get into cars withstrangers.”
“And yet you got in that limoearlier.”
“That wasdifferent.”
“Get in,Ness.”
I started scrolling through my cell for the number, but Liam plucked the phone out of my hands. “Hey!”
“Just get inalready.”
“No.”
“Look, if you don’t get in, I’ll toss youin.”
“You wouldn’tdare.”
A bold smile appeared on Liam’s dusky face. “Do you want to test thattheory?”
I huffed a breath, trod to his car, and climbed in. “You’re a real pain, you knowthat?”
He pitched the phone on my lap before I shut the door. As I strapped myself in, he climbed into the driver’sside.
“Where did the othersgo?”
“I don’t keep tabs on mybuddies.”
“Just on me,then?”
He didn’t answer, but his eyes flashed to mine before settling back on theroad.
“Lucky me,” Igrumbled.
Music drifted from his stereo, punctuating the silence with a headybeat.
In the darkness, my phone flashed with the agency’s number. I sighed, anticipating the reason for the call. I turned toward the window and answered in a low voice, “Hello.”
“Candy, is everything all right? I just got a text from Aidan to complain that you’d rushed out onhim.”
“Family emergency,” Igrumbled.
